Three Senior Cartel Members Arrested

While not as thought-provoking as Jim's post, here is more on Mexico from BBC. The article gives an idea of how someone progresses to the leadership ranks of a cartel, something that interests me greatly:

Noel Salgueiro Nevarez is accused of running the Sinaloa cartel's operations in the northern state of Chihuahua, where drug violence is rampant....

Prosecutors said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez started his criminal career 15 years ago, producing marijuana for the Sinaloa cartel.

Nevarez is not alone:

The arrest was made on the same day as that of Martin Rosales Magana, who is accused of leading the La Familia gang....

Until the beginning of this year, La Familia ran much of the methamphetamine trade in Mexico. It claimed to protect local communities and promote family values, but also engaged in gruesome violence. The security forces say it has been almost entirely dismantled, with its top leaders either in jail or dead.

More here. My thoughts are that these captures are likely to lead to less violence than if state forces had killed the leaders, but given the level of corruption in the Mexican judiciary who knows how their trials will progress. Perhaps the US should be exporting legal advice rather than drones or handguns.